Building materials, such as flooring elements, are commonly provided with what is known as a “tongue-and-groove” design configuration. A tongue-and-groove configuration consists of a tongue which extends out from one side of the flooring element and a groove formed in the opposite side of the flooring element. The tongue-and-groove configuration is provided to connect adjacent flooring elements together on a subfloor with the flooring elements aligned and the tongue of one flooring element received in the groove of the adjacent flooring element.
Before the tongue and the groove of adjacent flooring elements are connected, a fastener is first driven through the tongue side of the flooring element to secure the flooring element to the subfloor. The fastener is typically driven at a 45° angle into a “pocket” formed at the junction of the tongue and the side wall of the flooring element. A fastener-driving tool, such as a powered pneumatic nailer or stapler, is routinely used to drive the fastener through the flooring element and into the subfloor. This type of fastening is frequently referred to as a “blind” fastening process because the fastener is hidden and covered when the tongue of the fastened flooring element is received in the groove of the adjacent flooring element.
Flooring elements with a tongue-and-groove design configuration are provided in many different shapes and sizes. Flooring elements with a width of about 5 inches or greater are generally referred to as “planks” while flooring elements with a width of 5 inches or less are typically referred to as “strips.” As can be appreciated, many flooring elements are typically required to cover a subfloor in any given flooring installation. As can also be appreciated, many fasteners are required to secure such flooring elements to the subfloor. It is important to the finished appearance of the flooring installation (e.g., uniformity of surface appearance and joint lines between adjacent flooring elements) that the fasteners are repeatably driven into the flooring elements at a consistent position and angle. It is also important that the fastener-driving tool used to drive the many fasteners do so in an accurate and efficient manner.
Increasingly, flooring elements are being made of what are referred to as “engineered materials” and flooring elements made of such engineered materials may not be capable of being fastened to a subfloor using conventional techniques and fastener-driving tools. For example, engineered flooring elements may be of a laminate construction comprising an engineered substrate with a veneer overlying the substrate. The veneer can provide the appearance of a solid wood flooring element or can provide any other design. The veneer may be of wood or another material.
The engineered substrate to which the veneer is laminated may be of a variety of different materials. Representative examples of engineered materials utilized as a flooring element substrate are medium-density fiberboard (MDF), high-density fiberboard (HDF) and laminated plywood.
Flooring elements made of engineered materials are frequently manufactured to have a tongue-and-groove design configuration providing an interlocking or “snap-fit” connection between adjacent flooring elements. The snap-fit connection is provided by tongue and groove elements which are keyed to fit together and to provide the interlocking connection. Complex tongue and groove configurations can be provided to provide the interlocking connection.
Flooring elements made of engineered materials tend to be thin relative to conventional natural solid wood flooring elements. An engineered flooring element may have a thickness ranging from about 0.312 inch to about 0.625 inch which is less than the 0.750 inch thickness typical of a natural solid wood flooring element.
The tongues of these relatively thin flooring elements of engineered materials also tend to be less thick and long as the tongue of a natural solid wood flooring element. Such tongues can be insufficiently robust to receive a fastener without tearing or failure. Therefore, it could be desirable to drive a fastener into the groove side of the flooring element. However, existing fastener-driving tools which rest on the subfloor next to the flooring element being fastened can be obstructed from proper fastener-driving placement against the groove side of the flooring element by either the horizontal walls forming the groove or by complex vertical ribs or other structure forming the snap-fit configuration of the groove.
Because flooring elements generally are provided in different thicknesses, the spacing between the top surface of the flooring element and the tongue and/or the groove on the respective sides of the flooring element can vary greatly. It is important that the fastener-driving tool be capable of quick and easy adjustment to raise or lower the fastener driver to drive a fastener into the desired location of the flooring element and that the adjustment mechanism be sufficiently robust to remain in position throughout repeated fastener-driving cycles.
It would be an improvement in the art to provide an improved fastener-driving tool support system which would support a fastener-driving tool to repeatably drive fasteners at a consistent position and angle into a flooring element, which would be capable of repeatably driving fasteners at a consistent position and angle into either the tongue side or groove side of a flooring element notwithstanding potential obstructions provided by the flooring element, which would be capable of rapid and simple adjustment to position the fastener-driving tool to drive a fastener at the desired location on flooring elements provided across a range of different thicknesses and design configurations, which would be robust and would maintain the position of the fastener-driving tool through many fastener-driving cycles without need for adjustment and which would be simple to use and economical to manufacture.